Chinese Tattoo Blunders
Chinese character tattoos are everywhere in the West: I'm sure many of us know someone with some kind of whimsical word or phrase - or maybe even their own name - adorning their skin in ink. They're popular for a number of reasons: they look prettier than Roman letters, they can encompass many different meanings, and they look exotic to non-Chinese. Some people simply think they look cool. However, these tattoos are frequently performed by artists who have very little - if any - knowledge of the Chinese language.
An ancient Cantonese saying goes, 'Anything that walks, swims, crawls, or flies is edible'. Even if we could, in theory, agree with this mantra, all too often we're told tales of Chinese eating habits that strike us as downright freaky, at least by our Western standards. Silkworms, duck feet, fish eyes, soft-shell turtles, scorpions: all dishes that we, as foreigners, may have stumbled upon in China.
Did you know that China is the acknowledged homeland of tea (Chá - 茶)? Out of the three major warm beverages; - tea, coffee, hot chocolate – tea is consumed the most in the whole world.
